After you Apply to a Casting on enCAST

You've submitted a casting application - brilliant!

But what happens to your submission after you've clicked SEND?

Checking #

First, we check your submission before it goes to the Production.

Some of this is automatic (the right number of headshots, a CV, a showreel when one is needed, the correct language).

If anything is flagged, then the application is checked manually by a member of the enCAST team, who reads the casting call and your application side by side.

If everything is there, your submission goes straight through. 

Sometimes, though, we hold your application and get back to you for extra information. You'll get a message in your enCAST inbox within 24 hours saying what is missing. Nothing is lost: once you re-apply with the missing information, we forward it.

Why we hold an application #

There are three main reasons, and they cover almost every case.

1. Your location does not match the casting

Many castings say something like "for actors in Italy", or "actors based in Malta". If your profile shows you in another country that doesn't match, the Production needs to know how you would get there before they will consider you.

Our message will say something like this: if you are not based in the required country, but you can make your own way there and be available during the production period, please state that in your application. We are unable to forward your application otherwise.

Be precise. Say whether you have a base in the required country, and whether you can cover your own travel and accommodation. Having family there is not the same as having a base there, so say what your actual arrangements would be.

If you cannot get there at your own cost, do not re-apply. The Production will disregard the application because of your location.

See also When my Location doesn't match the Casting Location and Local Hire Only (LHO).

2. Your application does not mention a skill the role asks for

If a role needs dance, a language, an accent, an instrument or any other specific skill, the casting call will say so and will usually ask you to highlight it in your application. If your application does not mention it, we hold it and ask you to re-apply stating what you can do.

Do not assume the Production will find the skill on your profile. Put it in the application message.

3. Your CV, voice reel or showreel is in the wrong language, or does not work

Productions click straight through to your media. Three things stop an application here:

• A CV in the wrong language. If the casting asks for a CV or short bio in English and yours is in German, we will ask you to upload an English one. Pro actors can have several CVs in different languages, so add one rather than replacing the other.
• A voice reel or showreel that mixes languages. If a Production clicks your voice reel for an English role and hears German for the first few seconds, they will think you sent the wrong reel and did not understand the casting. Have one reel per language, never one reel with both. See The Problem with Multi-Lingual Showreels and Your Voice Reels.
• A showreel link that does not play. We check it. If it does not work, we hold the application until it does. enCAST is set up for YouTube and Vimeo links; check yours plays from your own profile page before you apply. See Vimeo Links on enCAST and YouTube Links on enCAST.

How to re-apply #

Go back to the casting call page and apply to the same role again. Include your original message and add the missing information: a line or two about your logistics, the skill the role asks for, or a note that your reel or CV is now fixed.

Three things that do not work:

• Replying in the inbox instead of re-applying. We can only forward an application, not a message. If you answer our question in the thread but do not re-apply, we will ask you again to re-apply.
• Attaching a CV or reel to the inbox message. The Production sees your profile, not our inbox. Upload it to your profile, then re-apply or tell us in the thread that it is done.
• Sending the same application again unchanged. It will be held for the same reason.

If the problem was on your profile (a reel in two languages, a link that does not play, a CV in the wrong language), fix the profile first. Then either re-apply, or reply in the thread to say it is ready and we will forward your application from there.

If the casting page will not let you apply to the same role a second time, reply in the inbox thread with the role name and what you have added, and we will handle it.

When we forward your application, we confirm it in the same thread. Replies from us usually come within a day, and sending several messages in one afternoon does not speed it up.

And then? #

In any case, you probably won't hear anything until at least the closing date of the casting.

Productions generally like to get all applications in and then decide which is the best, so don't expect to hear anything until the casting is officially closed.

If the production like what they see, they will get back to you. It might be an email offering you the job, it might be an email asking for more information, it might be an email asking you to self-tape a scene.

This can happen any time. You might hear from them 10 minutes after you sent your application. Or maybe 3 months after the casting closed. There's no telling when the casting might get back to you.

Occasionally, the production will also write back and tell you that you've been unsuccessful.

But more often than not, they will not write back to unsuccessful candidates. (If you're interested, here's why.)

So what do I do meanwhile? #

Our advice is simple.

Send your submission and then forget about it. Move on to the next job and send another application. And then another. And another…

And sooner or later, you will get that email inviting you to be part of the cast!